Learning From a Gentle and Humble Savior
Happy New Year, Job Project family. I pray you all had a restful and wonderful holiday season. I took two full weeks of rest and during that time the Lord met me with a revelation I did not expect. It left me reflecting on how little true rest I have actually experienced over the years.
I am only 33 years old, a wife, a mother, and a business owner. I juggle many responsibilities while trying to maintain relationships, some version of a social life, exercise three to four times a week, drink enough water, plan meals, manage our household, and discern what ministry and serving at church will look like in this season. So in His beautiful timing, God has once again been teaching me about grace and what it truly looks like in Matthew 11:28–30.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
We quote this passage often, usually in response to someone expressing exhaustion or a need for rest in the Lord. Yet we frequently overlook the practical implications of what Jesus was actually saying in its original context.
When Jesus says “weary and burdened,” He is speaking to those who were striving to live by the religious law of the time. He arrived in a moment that challenged the status quo of faith. The customs, rituals, and traditions that governed daily, monthly, and yearly life were heavy expectations placed on the Israelites. While these practices mattered, the law often served as a constant reminder of how people fell short of God’s standard. Over time, faith became more about appearing pious and devoted than cultivating a genuine relationship with God.
Jesus came to turn that upside down. Not to abolish worship, gathering, or spiritual practices, but to invite people into a new way of relating to God where the pressure to appear perfect was no longer the measure of faithfulness. That is good news for those of us who feel compelled to do more, fix ourselves, fix our circumstances, and perform godliness. Instead, Jesus offers rest for our souls. He reminds us that He is the one doing the transforming work within us.
When something in our hearts needs to change, the Holy Spirit will convict us directly or use our trusted community to guide us. Our role is simply to take His yoke.
The second part of verse 29 stopped me in my tracks. Jesus says, “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.” While the Greek offers multiple definitions for these words, what stood out to me was His meekness. His lowliness of heart reveals that He is not self serving. So often obedience to God feels costly. Letting go of what we want, saying no when we would rather say yes, and releasing relationships or outcomes we desire can feel deeply painful. Many of us, myself included, have thought, “God, why are you asking so much of me? How does this help anyone, myself included? I know others will receive from my obedience, but I feel my needs/wants are being discarded and abandoned.”
The Holy Spirit showed me that when I am asked to surrender my version of how things should go, even when it conflicts with my instincts or preferences, God’s heart toward me is not only how I can glorify Him and bring others to know God, but it’s about my good too. It is about forming me into the likeness of Jesus and leading me into true freedom from the weight, trauma, hurt, and chaos of this world. Not to deny its reality or pretend it does not affect me, but to live with a hope and strength that surpass it. Jesus lived from that place. He endured the cross anchored in that hope, and His soul found rest there. That same rest is offered to all of us.
Now this part of the final verse “my yoke is easy and my burden is light” can feel confusing. Following Jesus does not always feel easy or light. Carrying our cross daily can feel anything but. So what does Jesus actually mean?
His yoke is obedience to His commandments through the power, conviction and kind guiding of the Holy Spirit. Not through our own strength. Not through behavior modification. Not through saying all the right things in Bible study while hiding our actual struggles. Not through striving for perfection when Scripture exposes patterns of sin or broken thinking. Not through rebuking, renouncing and repenting perfectly.
It is about allowing the Holy Spirit to convict and guide us, and choosing to follow His often slow, but sure leading. It is about reading Scripture through the lens of grace, seeing Jesus’ heart as a teacher and shepherd, rather than trying to fix ourselves through sheer effort.
As we step into 2026, I want to challenge you to let go and truly rest. You do not have to play the role of the Holy Spirit in your own life. If you miss a day of prayer, receive the grace that has already been given to you and ask God to help you stay connected through genuine, ongoing communication with Him. If your yearly Bible plan feels overwhelming, slow down. Sit with the passage the Holy Spirit is drawing your heart toward and take all the time you need to let it transform you. If serving has become exhausting to the point of burnout, it may be time to pause yet continue to remain connected through community, worship, Bible study, and fellowship while you receive God’s love, peace, and direction in a season of reflection.
You will likely hear me talk more and more about God’s grace. Because if we are going to experience the rest Jesus describes in Matthew 11, our focus cannot remain on how we fall short. It must shift toward God’s immeasurable love and grace for us, and learning how to walk through life from that reassurance.
